This group of scientists is looking for a set of fundamental chemical reactions that “activated” life on Earth for the first time. A new study gives scientists a new clue to the search for (or the beginning) of life on other planets.
One of the most likely chemical candidates for the beginning of life was a simple peptide with two nickel atoms, which scientists call “Nickelback.” A peptide is a component of a protein made up of several essential building blocks, amino acids.
Somewhere between 3.5 and 3.8 billion years ago, there was a “tipping point” that accelerated the transition from nonliving to living molecules. “We believe the change was triggered by a few small precursor proteins that performed important steps in an ancient metabolic reaction. And we think we’ve found one of them,” the scientists write.
Source: Ferra
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